were my expectations of customer service unreasonable?

last night, i had my car towed to a sears to get my tires replaced. i called sears right before we left to make sure they would in fact be able to service my car since i need my car the next day.

"i understand that you guys close at 8."
"yes."
"okay, so if i bring my car in tonight, you guys would be able to replace my tires, right?"
"well, we're closing early tonight."
"i thought you just told me you close at 8."
"we do, but we want to get out of here by 8."
"i called earlier today and i was told that as long as i bring my car in by 8, you will be able to service it."
"you must have called a different sears location."

i didn't want to argue about this anymore as time was running out.

"how soon do i have to get there for you to service my car?"
"within 15 minutes."

i get there right at 15 minutes, and i'm already stressed out as triple A will only tow your car for free within a 7 mile radius. when we get there, the guy tells me that they're closed.

"what do you mean you're closed? it's not even 8."
"sorry, we're closed."
"you told me that if i get here in 15 minutes, you will be able to service my car."
"sorry, we're closed."
"that is absolutely ridiculous. where is your manager?"
"he's already left."
"you made a promise to me that if i get there within 15 minutes, you would be able to service my car. so i took that risk on a tow so i can bring the car to you guys since i need my car tomorrow. if you make a promise, i expect it not to be broken. this is sears and i expect sears quality customer service."
"well, what do you want me to do?!"

at that point, i lost it, and this goes on for 10 minutes. finally, he caves in and starts processing my work order.

well, it only gets worse.

as he was driving my car up the service ramp, he drives off the ramp, loudly dropping my car onto my lip. WHAT THE ****. the other mechanic is now yelling at him, "god damn it, you're such a dumbfuck. i told you to ******* back up!" the dumbfuck behind my wheel tells him to shut up as he slams my door and is now cursing twice as loud and twice as emphatically, all the while throwing shop equipment around. you better NOT throw anything at my car, you stupid ****. i'm also now thinking how long they have had this total screw up working in the shop for.

after a good 5 minutes of throwing the jack, etc. around, he calms down and together with this other mechanic they try to lift the front of my car up to back it up. 10 minutes later, they finally get the car on the service ramp.

just when everyone is about to get the wheel replaced, they realize that my car has 16 inch rims, not 14. more cursing ensues, and my paperwork is corrected. they did say they won't charge me additional for larger wheels because they dropped my car on my lip. lol wtf.

i didn't even remember to ask if i had a warranty and whatnot because i was so fuming upset and just wanted to get them out of my sight.

my friends tell me i should file a complaint because i could get some money back, but now that a day has passed and i've calmed down considerably, i'd like to get other opinions.

This is why you don't go to Sears for anything else other than car batteries. Caveat emptor.

Jon.

lol my friend was all telling me yesterday:

"yeah, Tsintaosaurus, you should definitely go to sears! they're cheap and they have a life time warranty. i even had my tires punctured by a nail and they replaced my tire free of charge!"

^^ so your friends do in fact call you "Tsintaosaurus"? Now that is an interesting nick name.

Are your friends T-Rex, Dromiceiomimus and Utahraptor?

You should write a letter either to some higherup in the sears department, or definitely to the customer service dept. Large stores like sears will always address this type of behavior. You may get some freebies.

A lot of service shops won't service your car if the time of service will take them past closing time. I don't think this is unreasonable.

Originally Posted by drizzt3117

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A lot of service shops won't service your car if the time of service will take them past closing time. I don't think this is unreasonable.

Agreed.

If i were working at sears and you brought in something that would take me an hour to do, i wouldn't want to start it at 7:55. And I don't see how legally I would be liable to take it.

i considered that, but if they promised me that they would still be able to service my car in 15 minutes, they need to keep their promise because they knew my circumstances - taking my chances to get there within that tight schedule so i can have tires to drive my car the next day. so they thought they could just change their mind at the last second and then ask me to pay to tow my car back home? the way i see it: don't make a promise you can't keep, especially at the great expense of another. if they had not made that promise, i wouldn't have wasted a tow there.

Originally Posted by Kent Wang

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Are your friends T-Rex, Dromiceiomimus and Utahraptor?
ryan north is a puppeteer of emotions and he tugs at my heart's strings


edit: perhaps you have stumbled across this:



or this masterpiece:

Originally Posted by Kent Wang

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Are your friends T-Rex, Dromiceiomimus and Utahraptor?

I don't think +1 adequately conveys how much I enjoyed that reference. You've inspired me to change my avatar.

When I was in DFW in early November, my g/f blew a tire about a block away from Sears. We took it in, they said it'd be done in about an hour, and we headed into the mall. We walked back into the service area, and they told us they just sent a guy to get a pair of tires from Arlington and we'd have to wait longer.

Yes, it took them a full hour to realize that they needed to go get proper-fitting tires. Ridiculous.

At the risk of asking the obvious, don't you have a spare tire?

P.s. I always go to Les Schwab. They never complain, they come running to help, and free beef, nuff said. (git r dun)

Originally Posted by j

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At the risk of asking the obvious, don't you have a spare tire?

P.s. I always go to Les Schwab. They never complain, they come running to help, and free beef, nuff said. (git r dun)

Yup, there was the donut in the trunk. Since we were right there with no plans, it seemed easier to get a real one. She needed new ones anyway.

The lesson to be learned is not to try and "squeeze in" right before a service business closes. Even if they tell you they'll do it, I live by the rule of thumb that if I get in there right before they close, even if they will do the work, they will do so disgruntingly and will be more prone to ******* something up. If I have to "rush to get there in time" then I don't bother and just wait til the next day.

You are naive to think they "need to keep their promise because they knew your situation". reality check: they don't give a **** about your situation since they're on the clock and when it hits 8, they're out. Ideally they should have been level with you and just said "no we cant do it" but I guess they were being optimistic and in some way thought they were "helpful"

my question wasn't about why they didn't give a ****, but thank you for stating the obvious anyway.